May 2007

Prestigious award for water re-use scheme

International Water, Sewage and Wastewater Treatment Contractor, ACWA Services, has gained a Distinction in the "Water Re-use Project of the Year" category of the Global Water Awards 2007 for its Membrane Bioreactor Wastewater and Sewage Treatment Pant on the Palm Jumeirah Development in Dubai.

The award was presented to Peter Ripley (MD) in recognition of ACWA's excellent achievement within the international water sector during the past twelve months and was announced at a special ceremonial banquet held at the recent Global Water Industry' Conference in Barcelona. The judges' verdict stated: "A creative water re-use project showing MBR technology at its best."

The Palm Jumeirah development is a modern, man-made, wonder of the world. Built on a spit of reclaimed land extending into the Gulf, the palm-shaped island is creating a residential and tourist paradise. The key role of the ACWA plant in this visionary development is to remove the problem of wastewater and sewage and turn it into a sustainable benefit - treating 18,000m3/day of sewage to a standard that can be used for irrigation and other purposes to keep the Palm fresh and green.

Another contract, worth $90M, to design and build two identical Seawater Desalination Plants on the crown of "Palm Jumeirah" is currently being constructed by ACWA's Middle Eastern subsidiary, ACWA Emirates. As part of this project, a temporary plant was fast tracked this year to produce 5000m3/day of desalinated seawater for use in construction.

The new desalination plants, which include screening, ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis, second stage R/O polishing, disinfection and remineralisation processes, are designed to turn raw, saline seawater into 32,000m3/day of high quality drinking water for residential consumption and a variety of island service facilities. Scheduled for completion during 2007, the plants will be capable of monitoring the intake structure of seawater to provide an early warning of changes in the quality of raw seawater and allow necessary operational adjustments to the treatment process.

Giving special consideration to rising energy costs, the plant will include equipment to recover energy from the reject brine stream. The energy recovery system will transfer energy at high efficiency from RO plant brine to the low-pressure UF filtrate feed pumps.

ACWA is experienced in the design and application of a wide range of processes, including the use of technically advanced membrane technologies. During the past year, the Company has successfully completed a number of challenging international water treatment projects - particularly in hot and arid regions of the Middle East where potable water is in short supply.